Under the BanyanOld stories, illustrated and annotated

The Ramayana, issue 9 of 10

The Golden Deer

It shines like liquid gold and starlight, and its voice is a dying cry.

Why this issue matters This is the turning point of the whole Ramayana. Sita is carried away, and the search for her, the friendship with the vanaras and the war with Lanka all follow from it. The lesson
Who's who

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The Golden Deer, cover
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The lesson of issue 9

Doing what you can

Two characters in this issue are far outmatched. Jatayu is old and armed only with beak and talons, and still he flies at Ravana's chariot, breaks his bow and tears at him until his strength runs out. Sita is alone, with no weapon at all, yet she thinks clearly, ties her jewels into her garment and drops them toward five watching vanaras. Neither can win. Both do the useful thing within reach, and the pages say her bundle will guide Rama and Lakshmana southward.

To think about

When a task feels too big for you, what small useful thing could you still do?

Notes on the tellings

Where this issue follows Valmiki, and where other tellings differ. Each note also appears on its page.

  • Page 3 Following Ravana's dawn oath at the end of Issue 8, we open with his golden chariot crossing the sea, rather than repeating the scene in Lanka.
  • Page 9 In Valmiki, Sita's wish for the golden deer is an innocent delight in a marvel. She thinks of keeping it at the hermitage, and of bringing it home to Ayodhya after exile, or at least its golden hide as a seat of grass. Lakshmana suspects Maricha at once, and Rama reasons that, magic wonder or demon in disguise, he must pursue it.
  • Page 12 In Valmiki, when Rama's arrow strikes the deer, Maricha returns to his giant rakshasa body. We keep his gaunt face, grey beard and matted hair from the ascetic of the opening pages, so readers know it is the same character crying out in Rama's voice.
  • Page 15 In Valmiki, Lakshmana draws no magic line around the hut before he leaves. He bows to Sita, entrusts her to the forest deities and goes. The famous Lakshmana Rekha comes from later retellings, which wanted to show that Sita could not be taken while she stayed within her protectors' care.
  • Page 21 In Kamban's Tamil Ramayana, Ravana does not touch Sita at all. He lifts the very ground she stands on and carries it away. Valmiki has him seize her directly, as we show.
  • Page 28 In Valmiki, Sita sees five vanaras on a mountain peak as she is carried over Rishyamuka. She ties her ornaments into the end of her garment and drops them. We keep her chudamani hair-jewel, maang tikka and a few bangles on her, as the story later needs them: Rama's questions about the ornaments in Issue 11, and the chudamani she gives Hanuman in the Sundara Kanda.